Women, We Celebrate You!

There’s a story that features in the foreword of a Paulo Coelho book. A priest visits an island and finds ‘wild people’. He sets out to reform them. He teaches them the verses of the holy text and orients them to prayer. He promises them that if they continue on that path, they will evolve and get closer to a superior way of being. The wild people are receptive to the priest’s message. His work done, the priest decides to move on. One day, several years later, he happens to see those wild people across the river. They wave madly at him. “Stop! We have to ask you something.” Then, suddenly, all of them run across the water, on top of the water, and reach the priest. “Tell us how to pray, please. We forgot the day you left. Teach us so that we can get closer to a superior way of being.” The priest, astonished and humbled by what he had seen, shook his head. “You already know.”

Women, we celebrate you today. Depending on what propaganda you decide to believe, there is a well-intentioned priest trying to teach you to be more something: independent, fierce, savvy about money, mindful of rights, wary of men, careful of relationships, etc., etc. But you see this, don’t you, that even in a world tilted in favor of the male for most parts, you have so much going for you. You have options. You have many like you who choose those options. There is a shift in awareness today where you have come to matter. You have an opinion, you have a voice, and slowly, neither of this is coming as a surprise to anyone.

You can and do shine. Are we in a perfect, equal world today? No. But heck, we are on our way there. You can help someone along the journey. Or you can first try and get stable yourself before offering support. Either step will help. Either step is right.Today, we take a moment to be just a little bit amazed at you: your prowess, at where you are and where you’re headed, and yes, at how much you know.

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